The Fall

“CEASE THEM…”

As I looked at grandpa in confusion, his sweat-covered face loomed in dread, grief, and panic.

I had no control over my body anymore.

It was as if my soul had detached from it, leaving me no choice but to watch on helplessly as grandpa and I kept on kneeling before the Oracle, stunned and immobile.

Everything in the world stopped.

The marble room began to twist into a spiral, and my head felt dizzy.

What did I do to deserve this?

Was it some kind of prank?

Surely not, we are talking about the Oracle here.

They are busy, high-ranking nobles, they would never waste their time on some insensitive joke like this…

So what DID I do?

As I was thinking about it, I was becoming sicker with every passing second.

With barely experiencing anything in this world, I was sentenced to die at twelve years old.

Nausea was permeating throughout my body.

The sound of clanking armor was ringing loudly in my ears, approaching ever closer.

The guards would reach us any second now.

I was going to throw up.

My head was too busy processing what had just happened to think of what to do next.

And even then, what was there to do?

It was the end of the road for me.

The pause that seemed like an eternity had suddenly lifted and I jerked awake as I felt someone take hold of my arm.

It was grandpa.

His previous face, containing anxiety and uncertainty, disappeared completely.

He looked me in the eyes.

“survive...”

Survive?

Before I had any time to recuperate and question his message, I felt the marble room reverberate violently.

The spotless floor below me now had cracks in it.

It was collapsing.

“Grandpa!”

As I entered a free fall into the darkness, grandpa’s face and his clear blue eyes before I entered the pitch-black void were all I could see.

I had finally snapped back to reality.

I am sorry grandpa…

Tears flowed from my eyes and were smothering all over my face.

For whatever I did or will do in the future…

My existence up until now has only hurt those closest to me.

If all I do is harm…

Then what was the point of me living anyway...

I was falling deep below the city.

So deep, it made me question whether or not I will ever see him again.

For now, one thing was certain, if I didn’t find a way to break my fall, I would die regardless.

The cool, lung-piercing air delayed my body’s responses.

I couldn’t get my fall under control and kept flipping and turning in all directions.

My body had sustained a lot of lacerations, but I could barely feel anything anymore.

I had to muster what remained of my strength, and act quickly.

I cast a small ball of fire and sent it as straight down as possible, towards the darkness.

I was approaching something.

Water.

Hitting it in still-form at this height would be a one-way ticket to the afterworld, so I racked my already-muddled brain for possible solutions.

I used the earth element to cast the biggest boulder I could make and sent it next.

At least this way, it wouldn’t feel like hitting solid ground.

All I could do now is pray.

God…

I know I never believed in you and never offered you any prayers, but just this once…

Help me protect what my parents sacrificed their lives for…

A little while longer…

I didn’t remember the impact or any of the moments leading up to it.

Before I knew it, I realized I was alive.

I woke up in a warm bed that felt familiar.

Was I back home?

Was that some kind of hyper-realistic nightmare people in the village kept talking about?

Meaning it was all a dream?

I tried to delude myself.

I wanted to believe I was back.

But the smell gave it all away…

The smell carried an air of a damp room, filled with medicinal herbs and potions.

One that probably saw a lot of injuries, not just mine.

There was a faint torch that lit up the room, exposing its vast, dark stone walls.

A couple of wooden barrels and boxes were stacked on top of each other in one corner, and a shelf with what I assumed to be the medicine and drugs used for the patients, in the other.

There I lay, in an unfamiliar place, patched up and treated.

What happened to me…

As I was retracing the hazy events to the best of my ability, I suddenly remembered.

“Grandpa!” I shouted as I scrambled up from the bed.

“Grandpa!!”

It didn’t take long for me to trip over my own feet and almost break my skull wide open from the sudden dizziness.

“Aaaggghhh…” I scowled as I was feeling the excruciating pain.

“I see you’re quite lively early in the morning. You should stay in bed a little while longer,” said someone.

“Who’s… there…” I said, opening one eye to try to catch a glimpse of the person, and using my hand to see if my head was still intact.

“Why, the person who rescued you. The all-benevolent Lord Xax, at your service,” he said. “Tell me, who are you and what encouraged you to take a swim in our water reservoir?”

That was a water reservoir? Talk about bad luck…

The man was tall and slim, dressed in fancy, tailored clothing, bearing a restrained smile.

He looked and sounded like he wasn’t a bad guy, but he was definitely not in a good mood right now.

Can’t really blame him.

An intruder came barging in and even spoiled their supply of water.

I thought telling him most of the truth would suffice.

“My name is Zenzo. I don’t remember how I got here. Can you tell me what happened?”

There was a short pause.

“You don’t say. You looked like you were on the verge of death three days ago. Glad to see that some color has returned to that face of yours.”

“Three days ago?!” I said while all the color was draining from my face once again.

“Indeed.”

“I apologize for any inconveniences I caused you and sincerely thank you from the bottom of my heart for treating my injuries,” I said.

But I had no time to make friends, I had to hurry and find grandpa.

“I realize this is discourteous of me after everything you’ve done, but can you tell me where I am, and how I can get out of here?”

It was a long shot, but I decided to throw it out there anyway.

“Well surely you must know where you are, you came all this way after all. As it happens, the entrance serves as the exit, too, by the way,” he said.

With the way he spoke in riddles, I could tell he was suspicious of me.

He might end up forcing me to stay here and repay my debt first…

“Is this Neveria? As for how I found my way inside, I am sorry, I withheld some information from you because I was suspicious of this place. I fell from above,” I said, coming clean.

Maybe being truthful will at least score me some points in his book…

“Fell from ABOVE?!” he said, sounding very concerned.

“Yes, from the Oracle’s marble room.”

“FROM the ORACLE?!”

This was definitely not a normal reaction.

Was the height of the fall making him surprised? Or was it the fact that I was having an audience with the Oracle beforehand?

“GYORN!” Xax yelled.

I didn’t even notice when the man got here.

It felt like he warped space and teleported inside the room.

“Yes, sire. Is the newbie giving you problems?” said a muscular guy barely fitting in his sleeveless clothes.

“Do we have a ceiling problem Gyorn?” asked Xax. “He says he fell from above! Confirm it at once.”

“Understood, sire,” responded Gyorn, vanishing as fast as he had appeared.

Whatever it was, it was now causing him a lot of worry.

“Is that a problem if there is a hole in the ceiling?” I inquired curiously.

“Why, yes. A big problem, at that… You asked if this is Neveria, did you not, young man?” he said in response. “It isn’t. Couldn’t be further from the truth.”

“So where am I right now?” I asked, slightly alarmed.

“You’re in Aireven – the city of criminals.”